1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a maintenance management system and an image forming apparatus for managing preventive maintenance (PM) performed by replacing components before failures occur, in order to maintain the performance of the image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Image forming apparatuses such as copiers require maintenance for maintaining performance. For example, for an image forming apparatus connected to a network, a remote monitoring server monitors abnormalities of the image forming apparatus. When this remote monitoring server detects an abnormality, a message reporting the abnormality is sent to a maintenance person such as a customer engineer (CE) so that maintenance is performed.
There is an image forming system with which the maintenance operation is simplified by holding usage frequency information of image forming apparatuses in a single image forming apparatus.
An image forming system for streamlining the maintenance operation for such image forming apparatuses is under consideration (for example, see patent document 1). Each image forming apparatus in the image forming system described in patent document 1 includes a copying unit, a network interface unit, and a usage cumulative counter unit. The number of copies processed by the copying unit is transferred, as copy number information, to the usage cumulative counter unit via the network interface unit. The usage cumulative counter unit adds the copy number information transferred via the network interface unit to a cumulative value that is currently held, and holds the resultant cumulative value. This cumulative value is then sent to another image forming apparatus so that the other image forming apparatus can hold the cumulative value. Accordingly, the maintenance operation can be simplified.
Furthermore, a replacement component order system is under consideration (for example, see patent document 2), for giving an instruction to the customer engineer to perform a maintenance operation based on a message reporting the abnormality from the image forming apparatus, and delivering replacement components to a predetermined location. The replacement component order system described in patent document 2 receives replacement component information pertaining to a component that needs to be replaced. Then, based on component management information including the replacement component information and the inventory status of the component, the replacement component order system sends, to a delivery company, delivery instruction information for delivering the component on a requested date. Upon receiving the message, the replacement component order system determines whether it is necessary to replace the abnormal component based on the abnormality. Based on the determination results, the replacement component order system sends replacement component information to a component management unit.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2000-39815 (page 1)
Patent Document 2: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2003-99550 (page 1)
Preventive maintenance (PM) is often performed for obviating abnormalities in the image forming apparatus. Specifically, the customer engineer visits a customer and performs maintenance on an installed multifunction peripheral. Conventionally, as described in patent document 1, according to the number of copies formed by the image forming apparatus, the PM plan for the next month is created based on a predetermined PM reference copy number, a total counter acquired from the image forming apparatus, and an ACV (average copy value) obtained from past usage statuses. However, the service life of a component changes according to the usage status of the image forming apparatus. For example, the load on the image forming apparatus for outputting each sheet is different in the case of “1 to 1” output and “1 to N” output. In “1 to 1” output, one sheet is printed out for each job. In “1 to N” output, plural sheets are printed out around the same time for each job. Accordingly, the precision may be degraded if the PM reference determination is made based on a single number representing the number of copies.
Furthermore, the conventional logic of PM reference and PM planning is based on the logic for a monochrome machine. However, a color image forming apparatus includes plural drums (for example, four drums of YMCK), and therefore, the usage count for each drum cannot be acquired. For this reason, it is difficult to create an accurate PM plan.